Author: Agencies
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 26, 2005
In an interesting twist to investigations
into the serial terror bombings at Sharm el-Sheikh last Saturday, Egyptian
police said on Monday they are searching for six Pakistani nationals in
connection with the blasts.
The six Pakistanis disappeared from
a hotel in Cairo earlier this month. The police released their photographs
on Monday.
While hospital sources place the
death toll in Saturday's bombings at 88, the Interior Ministry has confirmed
64 deaths. Most of the victims were Egyptians. Sharm el-Sheikh is a Red
Sea holiday resort.
The police have brought in nomadic
Bedouin tribesmen for questioning. Investigators are said to be looking
into whether there is a link between terrorist bombings at Ta'aba on October
7, 2004 and the July 23 blasts.
Curiously, both attacks coincided
with important dates in the Egyptian national calendar. October 6 is celebrated
to commemorate the "liberation" of Sinai from Israeli occupation; July
23 is Egypt's national day marking the 1952 revolution.
The BBC has quoted unnamed Egyptian
security sources saying the police have surrounded two Bedouin villages
near Sharm el-Sheikh -- Ruweisat and Khurum -- where they believe "two
of the Pakistani men may be hiding".
Arabic TV networks have shown grainy
pictures of two of the missing Pakistani men and named them as Muhammad
Akhtar, 30, and Tasadduq Husayn, 18.
Security officials point out that
if there is indeed any involvement of Pakistani terrorists in Saturday's
terror hit, it would be unprecedented. Foreign nationals have only rarely
been linked to attacks on tourists in Egypt.
Egypt has experienced the fury of
Pakistani terrorists in the past. On November 19, 1995, a suicide bomber
rammed an explosive laden truck into the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad.
The chancery was blown up along with 17 people.
That attack was believed to be a
warning to Egypt for demanding that Egyptian jihadis holed up in Pakistan
should be handed over. More than 500 Egyptian jihadis are believed to have
died in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet invasion. Those who survived set
up base in Pakistan and were planning to train their guns of Egypt.
Meanwhile, according to Al Jazeera,
a second - and previously unknown -Islamist group has claimed responsibility
on Monday for the explosions in Sharm al-Sheikh. The claim was made on
a Website used by Islamists by a group calling itself the "Mujahideen of
Egypt". Earlier, a group calling itself "Al Qaeda in Greater Syria and
Egypt" had claimed responsibility on Saturday for the explosions.
In a touching show of defiance against
the jihadis, hundreds of Egyptians and foreign tourists took out a peace
march through the streets of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, denouncing terrorism.
Later, they placed flowers and lit candles to mourn the dead.
